


come kiss me hard (in the pouring rain)

by antarcticas



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Best Friends, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Gryffindor, Kissing in the Rain, Magic, Quidditch, Rain, Yes they're both Gryffindors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27668024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antarcticas/pseuds/antarcticas
Summary: Zuko gets a little lucky before his quidditch match— but there's no Felix Felicis in this love story.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 87





	come kiss me hard (in the pouring rain)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tonguetide](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonguetide/gifts).



“Did you eat enough?”

“Yeah,” he smiles, though his heart stutters, and leans back into the corridor, right behind the door of the Great Hall. Sokka walks out too, at that moment, and takes in Katara rapidly fixing Zuko’s cape, ensuring that it falls straight across his shoulders. 

“Katara,” he calls out, “why don’t you ever ask me if I ate enough? Zuko’s just a chaser—”

“Stop being a jerk, Sokka. Chasers are plenty important, and you get enough love as it is. You don’t need me acting like you’re Tui and La for catching a stupid gold ball—”

“It’s not stupid!” Sokka yells out, and Suki grabs his arm at that moment and pulls them away. Zuko and Katara move apart a little between those moments, but the minute that Sokka disappears and the hall becomes devoid of anyone near Zuko presses a little closer to her, placing his hand on her waist, lightly. They’re best friends, and this isn’t terribly out of the norm at all, but every touch of his skin against hers sets him on  _ fire.  _

“Can’t believe you don’t play Quidditch,” he murmurs to her. “Gryffindor would be unstoppable with you on our side.”

“I think Sokka is enough representation for me. Besides, what position would I even play?”

“You’re good with your hands,” he finds it in himself to tease her, and she blushes. “You could give Sokka a run for his money.”

“Oh, and that would be the talk of the school, wouldn’t it? The water tribe siblings trying out against each other?” she rolls her eyes but knocks against his chest lightheartedly. Her knuckles rap across his heart, and he hopes she can’t feel the way it’s thudding underneath his cloak, just for her. “Besides, you might need my special skills today. I can feel the rain.”

“You and your water magic,” he teases, daring enough to put his hand right on her hip— through her robes, of course, but still intimately. “Are you going to keep us all dry?”

“Maybe just you.”

“Have some pride, Katara.”

“I have Zuko pride.”

“That you do.” Unfortunately, though, a bell chimes in the back, and he sighs and moves his hand away from her, letting it slide casually across her shoulders inside. She’s perfectly smaller than him, and he leads them down to the pitch, her unruly curls spread underneath his fingers. He knows she doesn’t like him— definitely not as much as he likes her, he can’t like her, not Sokka’s little sister— she’s two years younger than him, and he’s been friends with her forever, but she’s Azula’s age, and he needs to stop thinking about Katara and her blue eyes right now—

He gulps as they walk down, briefly in the pouring rain before they reach the circle where the Gryffindor team is doing warmups and talking strategy. Normally outsiders aren’t allowed, but Katara is Sokka’s sister and Suki’s best friend and Zuko’s something and like an older sister to Toph, and the others on the team can’t say anything to that. Zuko loosens his grip on her as they approach, and she waves a hand over him in the shade, drying him off wandlessly. 

“That will never stop being so cool. You got the cool affinity for wandless magic.”

“Don’t ignore your fire, Zuko,” she tells him as a wildly gesturing Sokka motions for them to come over. “You could warm yourself up.”

“I prefer it when you’re there,” he tells her, and she blushes. Sokka calls Zuko into the fray and he gives her an apologetic look as he steps to his friend’s side, pressing a hand on Toph’s shoulder. She’s just a third year, but she’s an unstoppable beater, even though she’s blind— she can, in an uncanny way,  _ sense  _ the balls in midair.

Sokka pumps his hands up in a grandiose gesture and screams about team spirit for a moment, and Zuko loiters next to him, nodding and attempting to smile at the appropriate moments. They’re against Hufflepuff and he thinks that they have an easy shot at winning this one as long as Aang— their wily Seeker— doesn’t touch the snitch. He has faith in Sokka, though, and in Toph’s ability to swat at the boy her age she affectionately calls Twinkle-Toes. He’s sure she has a tiny crush. 

With a quick check of his wrist-watch, then, Sokka yells about Gryffindor supremacy and sticking to a plan and tells them to get in the air. He side-eyes Zuko at that— Zuko is notorious for being terrible at sticking to plans, and he owns that— and all he can do is blush and run his hand through his loose hair, going to get on his broom. 

Katara’s there in a moment, though, her cheeks bright. They’re in the rain again, falling across their faces, and his hair is limp across his face. She whispers and dries off his hair, taking her hair out of her braid and letting it fall across her back, her loopies still clear to see. Then she reaches to collect the limp strands and warms them up, using her agile fingers to thread them into a topknot. It feels familiar, and this is not the first time she’s done that, but it— she— feels especially nice today. 

“Thanks,” he breathes out, blinking water out of his eyes, the scarred one slight. Sokka yells at him in the air, already in flight. Zuko is hovering above the ground, lost in Katara’s eyes. 

“I’m rooting for you,” she calls out in the downpour, and then she’s pressing a hand to his scar and smiling. He’s smiling, too, just because she always makes him smile. Then she runs a hand through the air again and he’s dry, a little umbrella above his head keeping him dry. “There.”

She’s proud, and she should be, this girl with her strange, prodigal bending powers. She’s amazing. She never fails to make him feel amazing. He’s so glad that he’s gotten to know her. “I’ll win the match for you,” he says clearly in the open air. 

“Yeah, Zuko?” she teases. Then Katara leans down to kiss his scar and her lips dawdle, pressing against his for a brief moment. It’s electric, that moment, like the lightning that might be in the air, and it’s just a brush, lips and then air, but it feels right. 

His heart wants to leave his chest. “Yeah,” he says. “Can another one of those be my prize?”

“You can have that anyway.”

“Zuko!” Sokka calls out. Katara winks at him as he flies away, and she’s just a dot underneath him, but somehow she still keeps him warm. He feels unstoppable. 

**Author's Note:**

> for @tonguetide who is the BEST and also for lana del rey because she exists


End file.
